Microsoft touts DSI vision, management tools

Microsoft’s vision of the future of software leans on what it is calling “magic” from the company’s long-term DSI (Dynamic Systems Initiative), which promises reduced IT complexity through automated creation and maintenance of distributed systems.

Although much of DSI looms in the future, Microsoft last week at its IT Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark, announced products aimed at streamlining software management, including a public beta of WUS (Windows Update Services) and the availability of MOM (Microsoft Operations Manager) 2005 and Virtual Server 2005.

The products are part of a strategy to provide “agile software delivery, remote deployment, and reduced IT costs,” according to Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates, who added that the “magic of software” could solve many of the headaches involved in running complex systems.

Gates expounded on DSI, painting a world in which management software keeps tabs on hardware and apps, updates are automatic, and product lifecycles are increased. DSI will rely on high-level models based on Web services standards, he said.

At the show, Gates announced software management tools such as the public beta of WUS, which allows admins to control and automate software updates. Gates also officially announced the availability of MOM 2005, for event and performance management of the Windows Server System, and Virtual Server 2005, for improving software testing, development, and migration.

Gates added that Visual Studio 2005 will be out in the first half of next year, letting developers experiment with the System Definition Model, which uses XML to describe hardware and software in an IT environment.

Hitting on security, Microsoft Chief Trustworthy Computing Strategist Scott Charney gave an overview of security efforts, including additional investments in security training and product development.

“No one at Microsoft is being complacent about security,” Charney said.

Although Charney did not reveal any new initiatives, his frankness about increased threats seemed to assure some attendees that Microsoft is taking a hard line on security.

“I got the sense that security will now be part of Microsoft’s development process,” said IT consultant and forum attendee Erik Trudso Jespersen.